[UA-discuss] Language - how do you refer to non-ASCII to a non-technical audience?[WARNING: ATTACHMENT UNSCANNED]

[Manal Ismail]

Dear all ..

Despite my interest in the topic and being on the mailing list for quite some time, this is my first email to the list (that's why I'm including my signature at the end of this email) .. I haven't been following all discussions closely, but have just read this thread and decided to share my self-brainstorming on the list !!

Since 'ASCII' and 'Script' are not understood by non-technical audience, 'Latin' is inaccurate as described by Don below, and 'Language' causes many sensitives as highlighted by Andrew, the following may be an option:
d) non-(a-z) - is this accurate enough, easy enough and short enough?

As IDNs may still include one or more ASCII characters, this may be more accurate, yet not as simple as d) 
e) ... including non-(a-z) characters:

I also agree that this is context- and audience-based, i.e. the easiest way would be to use an example or mention 'domain names in your native language' .. but maybe this could serve verbal messages ..

Just sharing a few thoughts .. 
Very much appreciate all your efforts and really hope to be able to participate more actively ..

Kind Regards
--Manal

Manal Ismail
Egypt GAC Representative
Executive Director, International Technical Coordination 
National Telecom Regulatory Authority of Egypt (NTRA)

-----Original Message-----
From: ua-discuss-bounces at icann.org [mailto:ua-discuss-bounces at icann.org] On Behalf Of Don Hollander
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2016 9:21 PM
To: UA-discuss at icann.org
Subject: [UA-discuss] Language - how do you refer to non-ASCII to a non-technical audience?[WARNING: ATTACHMENT UNSCANNED]

I’ve been grappling with this for la very long and now find out I’m not the only one.

So, how would you simply refer to IDNs.   

a) non-ASCII  - probably technically correct, but would your grandmother know what this meant?
b) non-Latin - Not even close to being correct as Latin character sets have all sorts of extra bits and bobs
c) non-English - Currently my favourite at the moment.

I’m looking for something really short.

Your thoughts?

Don